Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey

College Enrollment and Work Activity of High School Graduates News Release

Technical information: (202) 691-6378 USDL 08-0559
http://www.bls.gov/cps/
For release: 10:00 A.M. (EDT)
Media contact: (202) 691-5902 Friday, April 25, 2008
COLLEGE ENROLLMENT AND WORK ACTIVITY OF
2007 HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES
In October 2007, 67.2 percent of high school graduates from the class
of 2007 were enrolled in colleges or universities, according to data re-
leased today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of
Labor.
Information on school enrollment and work activity is collected month-
ly in the Current Population Survey (CPS). Each October, a supplement to
the basic CPS gathers more detailed information on employment, unemploy-
ment, earnings, demographics, and other characteristics of the civilian
noninstitutional population age 16 and over. Additional information
about the October supplement is included in the Technical Note.
Recent High School Graduates and Dropouts
Of the nearly 3.0 million youth who graduated from high school between
October 2006 and October 2007, about 2.0 million (67.2 percent) were at-
tending college in October 2007. The college enrollment rates were 68.3
percent for young women and 66.1 percent for young men. (See table 1.)
Among recent high school graduates enrolled in college in October 2007,
93.2 percent were enrolled as full-time students. The labor force parti-
cipation rate (the proportion of the population with a job or looking for
work) was 37.3 percent for full-time students and 72.7 percent for part-
time students.
About 64.1 percent of recent high school graduates enrolled in college
were attending 4-year institutions. Of these students, 31.4 percent par-
ticipated in the labor force; in contrast, 54.7 percent of students enrolled
in 2-year institutions were the labor force.
Recent high school graduates not enrolled in college in the fall of 2007
were more likely to be in the labor force than enrolled graduates (76.6 per-
cent versus 39.7 percent). The unemployment rate for those not enrolled in
college was 19.9 percent, compared with 9.8 percent for high school graduates
enrolled in college (in either 2-year or 4-year institutions).
Between October 2006 and October 2007, 426,000 people between the ages of
16 and 24 dropped out of high school. Hispanics represented a disproportion-
ately large share of dropouts (27.9 percent).
The labor force participation rate for dropouts was 56.2 percent, compared
with 76.6 percent for those who graduated high school but were not enrolled
in college. Among recent high school dropouts in October 2007, 60.4 percent
of young men and 51.1 percent of young women were in the labor force. The
unemployment rate for recent high school dropouts was 26.9 percent.
Youth Enrolled in School
In October 2007, 21.1 million young people between the ages of 16 and 24,
or 56.2 percent of the 16- to 24-year-old population, were either enrolled in
high school (9.7 million) or in college (11.3 million). (See table 2.)
College students were more likely to work or look for work than high school
students (54.0 percent and 29.4 percent, respectively). Among college students,
the labor force participation rate for part-time students (85.3 percent) was
higher than for full-time students (48.6 percent). Female college students
were more likely to be in the labor force than male college students (56.6 per-
cent versus 51.0 percent).
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The unemployment rate for high school students, at 15.2 percent in October
2007, was more than twice that for college students (5.9 percent). Nearly one-
quarter of black high school students were unemployed (24.6 percent), as were
17.9 percent of Hispanics and 13.4 percent of whites. Among college students,
unemployment rates were 9.9 percent for blacks, 7.0 percent for Asians, 5.0
percent for whites, and 4.3 percent for Hispanics.
Out-of-School Youth
In October 2007, there were 16.4 million youth not enrolled in school. These
out-of-school youth participated in the labor force at a rate of 80.8 percent.
Young men not enrolled in school were more likely to be working or looking for
work than their female counterparts (87.9 percent versus 73.0 percent). Labor
force participation rates among young out-of-school men and women were highest
for college graduates and lowest for those with less than a high school diploma.
(See table 2.)
The unemployment rate for youth not enrolled in school was 11.5 percent in
October 2007. Among the educational attainment categories, unemployment rates
were highest for men and women who were not in school and did not have a high
school diploma (15.7 percent and 19.0 percent, respectively). In contrast,
the unemployment rate among young college graduates was 7.4 percent for men
and 5.4 percent for women. The unemployment rate for black youth not in school,
at 21.5 percent, was more than twice that for white youth and Asian youth who
were not enrolled (9.6 and 9.9 percent, respectively). The unemployment rate
for Hispanic youth not in school was 11.5 percent.

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Technical Note
The estimates in this release were obtained from a supplement to the
October 2007 Current Population Survey (CPS), a monthly survey of about
60,000 households that provides information on the labor force, employ-
ment, and unemployment for the nation. The survey is conducted monthly
for the Bureau of Labor Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau. Data in
this release relate to the school enrollment status of persons 16 to 24
years of age in the civilian noninstitutional population in the calendar
week that includes the 12th of October. Updated population controls for
the Current Population Survey are introduced annually with the release of
January data.
The supplement weights used in estimation were revised with the release
of October 2007 data. An additional weighting step was added in order to
bring the CPS estimates for persons receiving a high school diploma or GED
more in line with administrative records. The 2007 October supplement data
are not strictly comparable with published estimates from earlier years.
Information in this release will be made available to sensory impaired
individuals upon request. Voice phone: (202) 691-5200; TDD message refer-
ral phone number: 1-800-877-8339.
Reliability of the estimates
Statistics based on the CPS are subject to both sampling and nonsampling
error. When a sample, rather than the entire population, is surveyed, there
is a chance that the sample estimates may differ from the "true" population
values they represent. The exact difference, or sampling error, varies de-
pending on the particular sample selected, and this variability is measured
by the standard error of the estimate. There is about a 90-percent chance,
or level of confidence, that an estimate based on a sample will differ by no
more than 1.6 standard errors from the "true" population value because of
sampling error. BLS analyses are generally conducted at the 90-percent level
of confidence.
The CPS data also are affected by nonsampling error. Nonsampling error
can occur for many reasons, including the failure to sample a segment of the
population, inability to obtain information for all respondents in the sample,
inability or unwillingness of respondents to provide correct information, and
errors made in the collection or processing of the data.
For a full discussion of the reliability of data from the CPS and informa-
tion on estimating standard errors, see the Household Data section of the
"Explanatory Notes and Estimates of Error" at http://www.bls.gov/cps/eetech_
methods.pdf.
Concepts
The principal concepts used in connection with the school enrollment series
are described briefly below.
School enrollment. Respondents were asked whether they were currently
enrolled in a regular school, including day or night school in any type of
public, parochial, or other private school. Regular schooling is that which
may advance a person toward a high school diploma or a college, university, or
professional degree. Such schools include elementary schools, junior or senior
high schools, and colleges and universities.
Other schooling, including trade schools; on-the-job training; and courses
that do not require physical presence in school, such as correspondence courses
or other courses of independent study, is included only if the credits granted
count towards promotion in regular school.
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Full-time and part-time enrollment in college. College students are classi-
fied as attending full time if they were taking 12 hours of classes or more (or
9 hours of graduate classes) during an average school week and as part time if
they were taking fewer hours.
High school graduation status. Persons who were not enrolled in school at
the time of the survey were asked whether they had graduated from high school.
Those who had graduated were asked when they completed their high school educa-
tion. Persons who had not graduated, that is, school dropouts, were asked when
they last attended a regular school. Those who were enrolled in college at the
time of the survey also were asked when they graduated from high school.